In the forty years since I
first read that line, I’ve found it to be usually true. Indeed, it often pops into my head when
observing families both happy and unhappy.
However, its reverse may be
true for U.S. cities. There is a
multitude of ways that cities can be successful and happy. But many unhappy U.S. cities are surprisingly
similar in their unhappiness.
To review the path to today’s
discontent, many U.S. cities were founded in early 20th century or before. Their original configuration was organized
around walkability, supplemented with the occasional horse-drawn buggy or
drayage wagon. Even the advent of intracity
public transit didn’t greatly affect the city layout. (As Jeff Speck and others often note, a transit
trip always begins and ends with walks.)
The advent of the
mass-produced automobile in the 1920s put a little pressure on the city, but
the Great Depression deferred the explosion.
It was only after World War
II that the massive change came. The
final horses were put out to pasture, transit was largely abandoned, and we
turned our cities over to the automobile and its parking lots, ever-widening
streets, strip malls, and sprawl.
Which brings us to today,
with the many costs of our automobile obsession accumulating out of
control. Climate change is peering at us
over the horizon, public health is being affected by the car-culture, and we
can’t afford to maintain all the stuff we built. It’s a sad state of affairs.
Many cities recognize the
problem and are trying to find solutions, often through a form of urbanism. But it’s hard to back out of a 70-year-old
cul-de-sac, especially when it’s all that most residents have ever known.
Admittedly, this history
doesn’t pertain to every U.S. city. But
if you live in a city that was founded anytime before 1920, there’s more than a
grain of truth in this summary.
Which brings us to Buffalo,
New York, a place that had peaks of success that towered over its rivals and
valleys of despair that remain legendary.
Buffalo is also a place that is now trying to find a successful future
in the half-forgotten successes of its past, largely through a turn to
urbanism.
Buffalo will be the 2014 host
of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU 22).
At CNU 21, a newly-produced film about Buffalo was shown to kickoff the
twelve-month buildup to CNU 22. I’m
unsure if the film was produced solely for CNU, but it might as well have been. With crystal clarity, Buffalo hits all the
notes in the urbanist anthem. Buffalo
will be a fine host city for CNU 22.
If your schedule allows twelve
minutes, watch “Buffalo, America’s Best
Designed City”. It’s a tourism film, but a tourism film with
a moral. And if your schedule allows
another ten minutes, think about what your city and Buffalo have in common and
if your city is doing as much as Buffalo to restore its vitality.
Schedule Note
The next meeting of Petaluma
Urban Chat will be a joint meeting with City Repair Petaluma. To accommodate the larger group, we’ll meet
at the Petaluma Arts Center. (A
voluntary $5 donation to the Arts Center is suggested for each attendee.)
We’ll view a
City Repair video entitled “Transforming Space into Place” and discuss if the
City Repair concept can be brought to Petaluma.
You can look at the City Repair website for
an advance look at the model.
The meeting
date will be Tuesday, November 12. We’ll
begin assembling and mingling at the Arts Center at 5:30. The program will begin at 6:00.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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